End Every Day With a Beginning

Todd Henry keeps himself busy between publishing books, speaking at conferences, consulting, and managing a business. Yet he still manages to get it all done. He recently shared one of his hacks for how he manages it all: end each day with the beginning of tomorrow in mind. Todd writes:

Here’s a two-minute strategy for lessening procrastination and creative block by ending with the beginning in mind:

1. Before you close out your work for the day, capture any open questions that you are currently working on. If you were to continue working right now, what would be the very next thing you would do?

2. Write those questions and the next thing you would do on a post-it, or a sheet of paper, and leave it where you’ll see it the next day.

3. Determine right then what you’ll do first when you next sit down at your workstation. Establish a starting point for your work. This will give you immediate traction.

Following this approach will help you save time and — more importantly — avoid stressful headaches. Start tonight by spending a few minutes writing down your starting point for tomorrow. Then be sure to read Todd’s full write-up over on the Accidental Creative blog.

This is a nice, small article. I like the idea of ending a long day with the missions of the next day. It creates a little more time at the end of the day, but prevents trouble the next morning. Nice article!

http://www.creativesomething.net/ tannerc

Thanks Jakob!

Kate Bish

Side benefit of this activity – once you’ve written it down, you can release it from your brain for the night – leave work at work!

http://www.creativesomething.net/ tannerc

Excellent insight Kate. I completely agree, this saves you the headache/stress of having to worry about what you’ll tackle tomorrow at work. That relief can make your home life that much better (hopefully).

Guest

I am a big support of lists and planning. When I leave any project, be it for work, art, or around the house, I like having a checklist of things to do. And if I’m not finished, I like making a list of things that still need to be done and questions I have. It does the body no good to keep mental lists and worry about tasks you are not currently able to work on. The brain needs a break!

http://www.spacediscjockey.com Joe Wojciechowski

I am a big supporter of lists and planning. When I leave any project, be it for work, art, or around the house, I like having a checklist of things to do. And if I’m not finished, I like making a list of things that still need to be done and questions I have. It does the body no good to keep mental lists and worry about tasks you are not currently able to work on. The brain needs a break!

Paige Dearing

Take one step further and block out time for it on your iCal, either for tomorrow or later in the week. It gives me piece of mind that I won’t forget a crucial task (or lose the post-it) if I’m unable to tackle it first thing the next day.

http://www.creativesomething.net/ tannerc

Great advice Paige! Thanks for reading and commenting.

http://www.wearemiller.com/ Yael Miller

Great advice. I’d suggest taking it a step further (for easily distracted types), who are likely to get sidelined by the usual suspects: email and web. Close out of your email and web browser the day before so you don’t start your day with the habitual email check. Print out any relevant emails if you’re going to need to refer to them the following AM. This should help you focus on getting right down to business as soon as your bottom hits the chair.